5 Ways Indie Artists Can Increase Music Monetization...



From the INgrooves newsletter.

Today's music scene ain't what she used to be. Having a great band, playing a few gigs each week, and building a decent website are soooo 2003. Today's bands and artists need to fully realize the digital marketplace. Social media is only the beginning. Keeping an active FaceBook fan-page, a popular YouTube channel, posting valid Twitter feeds and maintaining an interesting up-to-date blog are key beginnings. But, streaming is the new trend for the years ahead. And, learning to promote "listens" and generate multiple income streams will mean the life or death of all future musicians.

1. Monetize today's music marketplace! 
Understand how to maximize monetization for all platforms. Two key examples are YouTube and Spotify. YouTube channel maintenance should focus on: regular updates, thorough claiming procedures and integration with other social media channels.


2. Get On-board with Spotify
Spotify fanbases should be built from within: get profiles verified, create dynamic playlists to engage fans, preview exclusive content on Spotify where appropriate, use the embeddable Spotify player across social platforms and explore the D2C merchandising opportunities that Spotify now offers. 

3. Its Not About "Sales" ...its About "Listens"
Music marketing is taking a major mind-shift: Marketing teams need to begin moving from driving "sales" to driving "listens". Placing streaming links across the web from playlist domination to fan-to-fan social sharing to promote driving the listen is the future.

3. Learn to Maximize Multiple Income Streams
Capture additional and ancillary sources of incomes like publishing and neighboring rights. Also, be sure to consider and include all of your metadata for future opportunities (i.e., Neighboring Rights requires metadata that most labels have not captured anywhere over the past few years. This is lost money!


4. Focus on your Core Fan Base. 
Create focused D2C strategies and high value physical products (CDs, Merch, experiences, etc) for your core fan base(s). Stay connected to those fans by offering them something unique, as opposed to a simple anonymous sale in a shop.get their email addresses and use a good mail-service to deliver mass emails that are targeted, relevant and offer new products for sale to your fans.

5. Its all in the Data! 
Use data to inform and market. Big or small, know how to analyze key data points from multiple sources and take actionable next-steps based on what you learn. Look to break apart, aggregate, match, and compare data from social accounts and multiple revenue streams. This will allow you to focus your attention onto which markets are your key platforms and which ones are a waste of your time.